Mom Energy: A Simple Plan to Live Fully Charged Hardcover – September 1, 2011

Have you ever been to a workshop and thought: Why do they fill the beginning with all the boring 'background' information and save the better stuff until the end? Well, that's this book in a nutshell. I wanted to give this book my all, I really did. By the time I got through "Master Your Body's Energy Language" I was tired. Mitochondria conversion and body metabolism, I've heard enough of, thank you. There is an energy quiz designed to find your profile. There are examples of "quads" you may live in. It actually comes down to eating simple food, exercising, exchanging healthy for non-healthy choices and sleeping regularly. The "Jump Start Reboot " comes on page 161 of the book and talks about detoxing the body. When I saw the Gwen Paltrow quote I knew I wasn't in for the long haul. Sorry, but celebrity quotes throughout the book do nothing for me. Yes, the "do the work"...and they also have a ton of back up help to make it through the lower calorie diets and exercise routines. If you read "Fit For Life" back in the day, it's actually a equivalent to that with way more Hollywood thrown in. The exercises are for people with better knees-- "Wall Sit with Legs Crossed" is a typical exercise that this body just can't handle. (maybe never could) Take a long walk instead.

I find it ironic that a book designed to help mom's make better use of their time and energy is front loaded with so much rhetoric. If a mom has the kind of time to waste reading the physiological minutae of the human body, then they don't need this book to begin with. The practical information doesn't kick in until you're ready to quit on the book. And it's nothing you haven't heard before. Look elsewhere.

I got this book through the Amazon Vine program, and I'm glad I didn't pay for it because I didn't really see anything in it I hadn't read before somewhere else. That may be due to the fact that I'm apparently not the target audience for the book although I am a busy mom who sometimes wishes I had more energy to keep up with my many daily tasks. The premise of the book seemed intriguing to me since I am a 40-something woman with kids, a husband, a job, and other responsibilities, but when I began to read the book, I was left with the feeling that I must be doing everything right, or at least pretty close to it. The book begins with an introduction laying out the common problem moms everywhere complain about: lack of energy. The introduction gives the usual platitudes on that subject ("Never before has balancing the competing demands of workplace, home and health been more grueling.") before promising help through a sort of "energy makeover" that will address diet, exercise, sleep and other facets involved in our bodies' energy level. Then the book gives two "quizzes" for the reader to use to sort of diagnose what their problem areas are. The first is a multiple choice quiz with questions asking about caffeine use, dieting, and sex drive. Some of the questions were hard to answer, such as one that asks how a glass of wine makes you feel. Well, I don't drink alcohol, so there was no answer for me to pick. Another asks if you can walk a mile in 14 minutes or less. The choices are: A.Yes, I'm in great shape, B. Are you kidding me? , and C. I have no idea. What about an option of, "No, but I can do it in 20 minutes." In other words, the options assumed things and may not include a response that everyone can match up with. When I finished the quiz and calculated my score, I got a 25 where anything above 20 was considered a "gold star." Then it said that if your score was that high, you were "lucky" to have found a way to have balance in your life. Hmmm. The next quiz described scenarios that profiled 5 different types of moms that, depending on which profile you fit, would determine what parts of the book would be most useful to you. When I read these types, none of them applied to me. They were things like The Medicine Cabinet for a woman who depends on a lot of medications for various ailments, and The Mom Zombie who is described as being "like the walking dead." Okay, maybe I am lucky not to be such a basket case, but I was hoping the book would give me some practical information about improving my energy level and not assume I was a total wreck to begin with. I continued to read the book, though, and found it contained the usual suspects that anyone who has done any kind of reading on general health topics would already know. Avoid or eliminate sugar and caffeine. Add more fruits, vegetables and grains to your diet. Get plenty of sleep. Ho-hum, I just kept getting the feeling I'd read all this before, probably because I have. That being said, if you truly feel you are a Mom Zombie or a walking Medicine Cabinet, this book might be just the thing for you. I shouldn't assume that just because this book has nothing new to tell me, it will therefore have nothing to tell anyone. So I can only recommend this book to moms who truly feel drained and exasperated and need some basic (though quite detailed) advice about general health and nutrition that, if followed, would certainly improve their energy level and overall health. But if you're already pretty healthy and were just hoping to pick up some tips to put a little more pep in your step, this book probably won't tell you anything you don't already know.

I wasn't expecting this book to be as "meaty" as it was--which is a good thing. There is actually quite a lot of useful information here. I really appreciated their advice about nutrition; the fact that they mention the dangers of genetically-modified foods, as well as the benefits of probiotics (and other gut-friendly foods and supplements) is commendable. I found the beginning section on "Problem Profiles" useful for navigating the rest of the book. (I am definitely the sleep-deprived Mom Zombie.)

The only thing I didn't like was how boring some parts were. I found myself zoning out, tired of hearing yet another source explain the importance of carbs, proteins, and healthy fats. It isn't that this isn't useful information. It's just information I've already heard--and heard presented in a better way. (See The Beauty Detox Solution: Eat Your Way to Radiant Skin, Renewed Energy and the Body You've Always Wanted and Feed Your Face: Younger, Smoother Skin and a Beautiful Body in 28 Delicious Days.)

So, overall, I wasn't wowed by this book. Some information was useful, but when I need to refresh my memory, I will just reread the two books I mentioned above.